Fish caught in Angat reservoir safe - BFAR

MALOLOS CITY – Fish caught at the Angat watershed reservoir in Donya Remedios Trinidad, Bulacan are safe for human consumption after samples tested negative for heavy metals, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) said.

However, Dumagat tribesmen living in different settlements within the 63,000-hectare watershed said fishkills have lingered almost a month since these were brought to the attention of government agencies.

In a two-page page report, a copy of which was obtained by The STAR, Dr. Remedios Ongtangco, of the BFAR-Central Luzon office, said heavy metals like mercury, lead, cadmium and arsenic were not found in fish tissue samples submitted to the CRL Environmental Corp. laboratory at the Clark Freeport. 

The samples, however, were found to contain 0.79 parts per million (ppm) of total chromium.

But Ongtangco clarified that there is nothing to fear, as the maximum allowable limit for total chromium in fish and shellfish is 2.0 ppm.

“We therefore conclude that based on the results of the analysis, fish in the Angat watershed reservoir are safe for human consumption,” she said.

For his part, Mendel Garcia, of the Angat Watershed Area Team of the National Power Corp. (Napocor) that manages the watershed and Angat Dam, said fishkills have stopped.

Garcia told The STAR while attending a meeting on environmental protection at the provincial capitol here last Friday, that fishkill is a natural phenomenon in the watershed reservoir almost every year.

After receiving reports on the fishkills from fishermen, Garcia said the Napocor immediately contacted BFAR and the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, which utilizes water from the Angat Dam and distributes it to Metro Manila through its two concessionaires.

Garcia said the fishkills, based on an earlier BFAR report, were due to low dissolved oxygen in the water and high non-ionized ammonia.

Despite the government assurances, Bro. Martin Francisco, of the Sagip Sierra Madre Multisectoral Council, however, said the fishkills continue and seem to have spread to other areas in the watershed.

Francisco said the Dumagats are now starving and have yet to receive any government assistance.

He even showed footages and pictures taken last Wednesday of dead fish in Barangay Kabayunan in Donya Remedios Trinidad town.